Jump City
by Just Look in the Mirror
Summary: Two well-meaning American alien sisters move to Jump City, to shortly be welcomed by the city's more villainous hands. Slade/OC Mad Mod/OC
1. The Potential Recruit

**Author's Note**

**Summary:**

When two American alien sisters move to Jump City, both slip into the city's more villainous hands. Slade/OC Mad Mod/OC

**Main Pairings:**

Slade/OC  
Mad Mod/OC  
Robin/Starfire  
Cyborg/Bumble Bee  
Raven/Herald  
Beast Boy/(eventual) Terra

**Reason of Rating:**

Adult language, mature content, eventual sexual themes and dialogue, and violence.

**Disclaimer:**

_Teen Titans rights, characters, story line, etc., go to people who aren't me._

(With the exception of Nina and Bristol Warndhose)

Dark themes, romance, humor, and action throughout.

*TV show-based.

Feedback is always welcome. Enjoy :D

* * *

**The Potential Recruit**

_Titans National Headquarters, Newport, Rhode Island  
__June 30th, 2008_

Twin members' Más y Menos of Captain Robin's Program of Heroics Around the Globe, otherwise known as the PHG, had been the only minors left on the team, and so the dropping of the Titans' 'Teen' was officiated a few meetings last to the one at hand.

Today's topic of discussion highlighted the recent and peculiar attacks in Steel City involving frequent bank heists, the perpetrator always looting and making a clean getaway within a heartbeat's space of time, as well as establishing their odd trademark of leaving behind a hubcap, or twenty, in the vaults.

The Titans East were just as diligent in catching the baddies and taking care of their own city's crimes since the day four years prior when Robin permitted them aboard his program, but this series of crimes had the team confused because their villain seemed to have the superpower to dematerialize before anything could be done to put a cork in the hijinks. In fact, the perp had been appearing into the vaults and out with a pop and nothing more, as the security cams had caught. So on their hands was a case of teleportation...

Captain Robin proposed they voice a run-down of any villain they'd come across in the past who'd displayed this ability, but little was offered in their brainstorming except for the recalled hologram of Mad Mod's back in late 2003 and Control Freak's reality-warping remote. These suggestions were dismissed because either villain was currently in Paris, flash-frozen solid, not to mention the old Englishman's holograms lacked the corporeal advantage of taking physical hold of anything, bag loads of money included. Whoever the perp was, he or she was new to the system.

"They've been at it for nearly a month," said Head of Titans East, Bumble Bee. "The videotapes from five banks showed up as a likely man, judging the masculinity and height, but they were wearing that black cloak, too, so we can't be one hundred percent."

"Keep in close contact with each robbed bank's security. I'd get their system hooked up within your tower. Have you looked into the police reports yet?" Robin inquired.

Bee nodded.

"Which bank appears to outnumber the others' heists?"

"They've hit Fleyton's three more times than his six usuals," she noted.

"Patrol Fleyton's tonight and send the rest of your team out to the financial institutions of greater vulnerability. Intervention among bonus sources shall be provided if the heists prove ongoing and the miscreant remains discreet with his or her deeds."

"Wouldn't mind surveilancing as an ant on a vault's ceiling myself," Beast Boy butted-in enthusiastically. "Then I could drop down two tons of T-Rex on the sap."

"_Surveilling_," Raven quietly corrected beside him, the green of her ally's skin tinging a light pink in minor embarrassment.

"And how has moderating the felonious activity in Roswell been?" Robin asked Honorary Titan and Head of Titans South, Pantha.

"Nicely, I think we'd all agree," she confirmed, glancing at each of her team members to ensure their approval. "The Señor who was polluting our county's water piping is now confined up in Veotre Penitentiary. He was a relatively simple capture," she added with a satisfied smile.

"Excellent," the Captain affirmed, turning his attention to the Head of Titans West, Bobby. "All is well in Springfield?"

The oversized teddy nodded along with counterparts, Melvin, Teether, Timmy Tantrum and Wonder Girl.

These board meetings were held every month's thirtieth or whenever a legitimate emergency struck, however, following the flash-freezing of what most Titans had considered their worst ever and utmost powerful villains, Slade unfortunately excluded, the newbies to rise and wreak their ill purposed vengeance or drive to corrupt with illicit intent were quashed and stashed in their rightful homes of imprisonment easily enough much of the time. In the past two years, Captain Robin had tweaked the PHG so that it was constructed to perfection, with the devising and assistance of his fellow teammates of the planet, of course.

As of their mission in Tokyo almost twenty-one months earlier, Robin and Starfire had become lovers since, shocking no one of the team in their announcing because their obvious formerly repressed feelings for each other had beamed off either teen like sunshine through translucent glass. Cyborg was more than friendly with East's Head, Bee, and that had been a given from the start, too. Even apathetic goth Raven was dating Herald, and although she hadn't openly admitted such, it was evident nevertheless.

Of the team's heaviest impacted threat was Slade, but nothing had been seen of him nor heard since summer of '06 when Beast Boy confronted the Mastermind's robotic replica on carnival grounds while he was depressed over his unrequited relationship with Terra, who was now attending the Jump City University, as observed by Beast Boy during his period of maintaining a very watchful eye on her, all for her own safety and his protective concern, of course. That watchful green eye was put to rest at Captain Robin's request and the recommendation of his friends, for his habit was unhealthy and particularly obsessive. BB was assured of her state of alright-hood anyway. Now, one could say a green mouse hadn't pursued the young blonde woman for six months and counting.

Robin's request failed to deter the kid's dreams, though. From fourteen years of age, the Titans North's youngest member had been deeply in love with the dangerous telekinetic girl regardless of her mistakes and capricious flukes in personality, the latter Raven's viewpoint. Someday, BB believed, he would see and have Terra again.

"Cyborg, rates of this month, if you will?" Robin inquired.

"On it, man," the member second-in-command said, putting his left forearm on holographic projection.

The rates in criminality were disclosed each meeting. Some months the statistics were higher and others they were lower. The team had usually noticed a slight boost in crime throughout the summertime. The reason to it was a mystery at present, but they theorized it was simply because there was no better time to get out and play or cause scandal than during the most humid season.

As anticipated, the graph showed an apparent peak in crime compared to May. The rates indicating a crime total from various regions had elevated just as the overall temperature had, and every Titan grimaced slightly, but Robin was swift to suggest they had nothing to fret quite yet, so long as they continued to contribute their part in fighting against those who bid society nastily to their best ability.

"Gnorck!" Starfire said in her native tongue from beside her boyfriend, his right arm linked around her middle. "The red line is eleven percent larger than May's or April's or March's or February's or January's!"

"And it's certain to increase next month, Star," Cyborg guessed calmly, "but our improvement stats on beating bad guy butts and locking 'em up have strove for the better. Heck, that blue line's the tallest it's been all year."

"Affirmative. Well done, team," Robin congratulated. "Let us move on to review our latest list of potential recruits."

Here and there the vast compass of teammates would come across a super-powered rookie. If the newcomer was interested in joining one of the teams, whether North, South, East or West, they'd be added onto the list of potential recruits, then appointed a tryout interview at the Titans National Training Course located in Odessa, Texas, where their performances in combative skill and agility would be tested and judged by Managers' Robin, Cyborg and Speedy. Those of outstanding fluidity and proven triumph on the course were labeled Honorary Titans and marked into the managers' inventory of contacts. They could work independently as they'd done previously or select any of the four Heads for direction and leadership. Those who performed adequately usually carried on to fight crime on their own or were nominated to the Doom Patrol where Captain Mento might guide them furthermore.

June's list consisted of nine potentials, one added by Robin, three by Pantha, three by Bobby and two by Bee. Monthly potentials averaged five to twelve. Robin advised his group's Heads to be selective in choosing who to add on, although super-abilitied persons were, at times, difficult and rare to spot, so in those times they'd enlist whoever seemed worthy.

"I see you've described Xavier Stretch as having put exceptional use to his elasticity," Robin said to Bee. "You witnessed him bind a couple of street brawlers with the stretch of his right arm even when their guns were withdrawn? He could prove handy to our field. We have yet to hire a Titan with the faculty of exceeding resilience. I look forward to meeting him." He shifted his focus onto Pantha. "Immense strength in Lucas Shatterpine?...We've already dozens aboard gifted with advanced vigor, but I'll take him into consideration."

"You should've seen the brute push the busload of kiddies uphill on Road 64!" the luchadora exclaimed, her Spanish accent thick. "It must have been going eighty miles an hour when he jumped out on the center of the road smack dab, twitching not an ounce when he stopped the vehicle in its tracks."

A brow of Robin's rose in intrigue. "Why was the bus speeding downhill?"

"The brakes had given out, supposedly," she shrugged.

"Well, he sounds promising, as does the list's entirety," Robin said, grinning. "Our team's quality should only enhance as members multiply, right?"

**x**

_Jump City, North Carolina  
__July 2nd_

Orlep Apartments was beheld just up ahead for the young sisters who'd just arrived in town from Redding, California, where they'd grown into adults from infancy. The girls' paternal grandparents were natives of Planet Tamaran who'd moved down to Earth after falling pregnant. The war in the sector where they'd lived had inflated during a vast chunk of the 1960's, and when they were enlightened to Earth's enormous supply in clean water, diverse cultures and lands that made the craterous floor of their home planet look and feel shoddy, the couple immigrated by rocket, landing on the first oddly-shaped continent that caught their fancy. They'd kissed their individually picked earthlings and knew their English in moments and they'd worked and lived onwards as American humans. Their son, Vlagro Warndhose, had grown up to marry and bear two daughters with a native earthling named Suzanna McKay.

Their first daughter, Bristol, was born on February twenty-fifth of 1987 and their second, Nina, on November seventh of 1988. Both girls had inherited traits of the typical Tamaranian, though they were limited to lighting up their eyes and hands with starbolts of six hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and deprived of their father and grandfolks' way of flight.

Through the years Bristol had always been the studious sister, divulged in her studies and aspiring to obtain a Master's Degree in psychology. Word had it that Jump City's university had an outstanding course in her desired occupational route, and so she decided to migrate and settle into the city before autumn when classes for the first semester would start.

Their second daughter, Nina, who was currently an unemployed high school graduate, was laid-back and she held a bond with her elder sister that was so sturdy she refused to live seven states away from her for the next several years. Bris was generous to allow her company in the move, but she enforced one rule for her younger sister if she were to join her in an apartment in Jump. Nina would have be productive by working or going to college. She pouted at this rule, but agreed to it.

"Mom's already left twelve messages," Nina sighed, combing back a curtain of her long black hair with her fingers and zipping her phone up inside a duffel bag, her free hand rummaging her pockets for a hair tie as Bristol lugged two weighty suitcases past her.

"I can't blame her for worrying about you, Neen. You've never been too heedful with your life choices."

"What gives you that idea?" the brunette scoffed, narrowing her round hazel eyes on her blonde sister coquettishly.

"Remind me to dictate the novel later," Bris said, lumbering ahead with strain. "In the meantime, do help yourself to a suitcase or two. Doubt it'll kill ya, lazy ass."

"Pff, I was on the verge of doing just that!" Nina defended, snatching her belongings and skipping on ahead. "Grandpa should have came with us. He would have carried all our shit onto the third floor in a single trip."

"What did I tell you about that mouth, Neen? Cut down the swears or else you won't be employed. This city seems to be of high class."

"It's too soon to verify that, Bris. You know this city's swarmed with crooks. Here we are in the _Scout Gazette_'s thirty-ninth place among the ninety-nine other most dangerous cities in America."

Bristol paused. "Jump's on that list?"

"Yeah. Made the discovery last Tuesday."

"I don't buy into those evidence-lacking tabloids. I'd bet the statistics are way off," the blonde with almond-shaped blue eyes said with a hint of unease in her tone that her sister picked up on instantly and easily.

"Maybe you're right," Nina shrugged, a devious smirk growing as she walked alongside. "Maybe its actual rank oughta be set in the teens or even the tens."

"We'll be fine," Bristol huffed, holding the lobby's door open for her sis. "Hurry. I'm so exhausted I can hardly see straight."

"I think you have a point, Bris. We will be OK. Rumor has it this city's infested with super-powered freaks like us."

"Yes, the Titans, I think. I've heard of them. There's hundreds of members. The four main teams are titled like a compass; North, East, South and West. North lives here according to what I heard, but it might be East. Don't recall."

"So what do they do? Just battle evildoers for a living?" Nina asked.

"It would seem so."

"Who pays them, the mayor?"

"Probably."

Nina smiled broadly. "Don't suppose we could-"

"No, Nina," Bristol sliced in curtly. "We were raised under the rule that we live normal lives, remember? Mom can't zap balls of fire from her eyes and hands, can she? There's a decent reason Dad never told her of his and our...special features."

"More like a damn bad reason," Nina pouted, standing beside Bristol while she checked-in and got their apartment's keycard. "When you shot a hot one through the wall and left Ma in hysterics for a week, Dad should have confessed right then and there rather than try futilely to assure that it was merely a 'post-pregnancy hallucination'."

Bristol frowned in silent agreement once they were inside the elevator. "Dad constantly had her drunk on her favorite wine until we were five and old enough to obey his order that we conceal this," she lit her left hand up into a navy-blue orb for several seconds. "It was for the best, Neen. She wouldn't have understood."

"We're big girls now, Bris. Ma and Dad are across the country and we have the authority to do whatever the hell we want!" Nina reasoned playfully.

"If you're attempting to dissuade me from finishing school and going into the field of my dreams you're nuttier than I thought possible."

"We'd have the time of our lives," Nina said seriously. "Think about it. Running amok with a team of superheroes. Ridding the environment of its villains with a shoot of the hand or eye. Just envisioning it riles me the fuck up!" she beamed.

"I've invested thousands into achieving my career goals, but if saving the nation from its ongoing flaws entices you, then who am I to tell you differently?"

"Yes...who would you be?" Nina let go of her baggage and spun around when they were halfway down the third floor's hall.

"Nina! What—where are you going?!"

"I'll return tonight! There's exploring to be had!" Nina shouted delightfully, the elevator doors closing.

**x**

There may have been more to see and do in her hometown, Redding, but Jump possessed its fine glut of shops and sites. Nina traveled out a shy two miles on foot, ogling many stores and shops, and when she'd found herself in front of the newly reopened City Library, her hopes spiked.

'_I'll be going about my life productively after all,'_ she thought with a smirk.

The prospect of lounging at a desk for eight to ten hours five days a week in a public library hadn't exactly pumped her adrenaline significantly, but she would be financially capable of supporting herself in her own apartment give some time and patience.

She walked inside to meet her feet with polished and notably new floor tiles; the very vicinity smelt fresh and the wide transparent windows were crystal clear. Boxes stacked with modern books rested against the check-out desk where she was headed, triggering a confident and semi professional inquiry in her head in preparation for the archetypal sternly elderly woman with secretary specs and bunned gray hair who sat behind it.

"Um, hi," Nina greeted nervously, coughing to clear the hushed tension.

The old lady peered at the nineteen-year-old's bare hands to see if she had a book to be checked out. Scrutinizing the girl's empty hands, she snootily said, "Afternoon. How may I be of assistance?"

"I've just arrived here from Redding, California with my sister. She's going to be attending the local uni this fall and I'm...just looking to work." She flashed a pretty smile while also flashing the desk's propped name card a peek. "I wish to know if you're hiring, Mrs. Anne Fowler….for a librarian's position."

The returned expression signified an upcoming answer to disappointment.

Nina ended up walking out of the zone of knowledge sad and morbidly embarrassed. How naive could she be, to suppose a license and proper education wasn't required to be a librarian? All they did was sit around and sort books.

"Holy hell, I'm a goddamn idiot…" she sighed, her cheeks still flushing puce as she strolled down Magnolia Street, onwards back to the apartment where hopefully Bris would have supper and a backup plan ready for her.

'_I've gotta contact those Titans. Perhaps heroics is my route.'_

She'd try to keep faith that her hand and eye bolts would be good enough for them. That aside, she wasn't incredibly graceful in her movements nor was her hand-eye coordination too good to even her own standards...but hey, these guys just might have been lenient. She'd cross her fingers.

Eight o'clock was minutes away once she was within half a mile of the apartment. The buzzing of citizens in the streets had yet to falter, but upon swerving onto an isolated walkway, she took roughly thirty steps before a brawny, shadily disguised mugger had his thick arms around her skinny frame, wringing her to his chest tightly and roughly as he scavenged her jeans' pockets. Her purse was thankfully stuffed with her luggage back in the apartment with her sis.

"The fuck?! Let me go, you barbarian!" she hissed, thrusting her right foot against his shin as he collected her wallet, shoved her to the concrete and hightailed it.

Slightly dazed on the ground, her palms scuffed and knees scraped, she weakly rose, fury pooling in her gut fast and violently. She broke into a bolt, though it had begun slow and crooked because she'd never been swift on her feet, and her little trip through the city only diminished her common sluggishness more so. In spite of his gained forty feet apart from her, she needed that wallet. Tucked inside it was her drivers license, two credit cards, sixty loose bucks, her favorite eyeliner and her grandpa's home planet coin, manufactured in '46.

As approximately fifty feet separated them, her natural impulses kicked in and her hands and eyes were glowing a brilliant ruby. Seconds later, an orb twice the size of a basketball emanated from her right fist and sped ahead at ninety miles an hour to spank the mugger's back—hurling him forward with smoke-billowing off his flesh. His howl of shock and pain would've unnerved a banshee.

Nina congratulated her spot-on aim, secretly praying she didn't murder the man, but maimed only, as she sprinted up to stop three feet behind his shaking form. His back was naked and charred black as his shirt had been burned open, the rims frayed and crispy. Six feet from his head laid her wallet, unscathed.

"Y-you're...you're one of those damned Titans," the injured mugger wheezed, eyeing her tearfully.

"Yes, I am," she said boldly, strutting up to reclaim what was hers. "And you best keep that bit of info in your tiny brain, or else…" She waved her red-beaming hands in mockery to watch him vomit from agony and fear.

"P-p-please! I-I'll never pester ya again! Oh, I need a fuckin' hospital!"

"I concur. There's a 7-11 out past this alley. Perhaps the cashier can help. Good luck, asshole." She walked in the opposite direction.

"God Almighty! Please! Just call me an ambulance!"

She halted firmly in her place, her blood boiling once more. "As you'd _felt_, my cell ain't on me," she bit out, then making her official leave, unbeknownst to a hulking man gazing at the action from a shadowy corner afar.

**x**

_Jump City's Police Unit  
__July 2nd (Nightfall)_

The Titans journeyed into the JCPU following their call from Officer Duke Staye, regarding the odd assault and battery incident of earlier that night. Crimes of what could be deemed 'mortal' and regular were generally handled by the city's authorities alone, but the attention was sought of the superheroes whenever an incident would contain apparent supernatural phenomenon.

"Officer Staye," Robin greeted formally, his gloved right hand up for a shaking.

"Titans, how are we getting along?" Staye inquired amicably, leading the heroes into a vacant meeting room, holding a file on the latest.

"Well, sir," the decades' younger Captain started, "you mentioned the suspect has been hospitalized for third-degree burns along his upper back?"

"Yes. Henry Gyonare was seemingly truthful and coherent, although traumatized and frenzied in questioning when he was admitted just an hour ago," Staye confirmed as he and the Titans took their seats around the table. "He told us, out of consequential horror most likely, that he'd assaulted and mugged a young dark brunette woman of her wallet, and when he fled the scene, he was subsequently hit with, well, what he related as a searing blast of fire. His _*ahem*_ colorful expletives excluded, he said it'd felt as if his back had exploded. He was thrown down, and the girl verbally threatened him, grabbed her wallet and left."

"And Mr. Gyonare will be held in your custody once his injuries heal?" Robin asked, making sure.

"Indeed, however, based on his statement alone, and the absence of the victim, it's not plausible he should face solemn charges unless the woman presses them. She could be right out of the picture for the time being." Staye drew a photo from his file and set it on the center of the table. "Any of you discern the damage based on personal experience?" he continued, eyeing the young alien with large verdant-green eyes and lengthy burgundy hair.

"I can discern," Starfire piped in. "My starbolts have damaged and burnt many things like vehicles and building sides. They are very, very hot. I have never shot a mortal with one...except for Robin, a few years ago," she confessed timidly, looking apologetic.

"It was, however, _necessary_," the Boy Wonder noted, patting his girlfriend's shoulder softly.

"Your exposition leads me to assume the lady is of your race," Staye put. "She presumably acted out in defense, but nevertheless, it would be appreciated if you all would speak with this young woman if you happen to run into her, just to ensure precaution so she doesn't harm anyone other than assailants."

"We shall, sir," Robin affirmed.

"Thank you for your time. Good night, then."

Back at the Tower, the heroes addressed their strategy to keep peeled eyes for the potential recruit. So far, she seemed welcome for the list.


	2. The Potential Apprentice

**The Potential Apprentice **

_Apartment 34, Orlep Apartments, Jump City  
__July 2nd (Nightfall)_

"Loser's back was smoldering worse than a piece of burnt fucking toast, Bris!" Nina announced giddily from her chair at the small circular dining table. "Do you remember the last time you shot one of those off? Oh! The thrill just slapped me like an icy backhand to a hot cheek."

"Why don't you go unpack your essentials?" Bristol sighed glumly with an ashen skin tone. Her sister's news of the mugging incident so soon in their move unnerved the daylights out of her. "Guess they call this place 'Jump' with ample logic…"

"We covered this. We can totally fend for ourselves. We're not like the other weaklings out there."

The elder shook her head, clearly discouraged. "You've got to be more careful, Nina. You could have killed him, you know. He could still die, in fact. Surely he's feeling torturous in the critical ward this moment."

"That pathetic asshole jumped me and you're concerned about his recovery? I was standing up for myself! And I'm gonna continue to."

"I'll be seeing that you won't need to again," Bristol assured her strictly. "From this second forth, you're sticking with me out there. If we're living in Detroit's sister city for at least another three or four years, then we're to do everything in our power to keep us safe."

"Funny, your choice of words. Double-meaning there," Nina said, winking. "We will do everything in our _powers_ to conserve our safety."

**x**

A single indigo eye studied the wavy black-haired alien all through her jog from sidewalk to sidewalk upon reaching her destination, Orlep Apartments on Parker Street. The building itself was second-rate and a telltale sign that the girl residing there wasn't of substantial wealth. She was probably a part-time working college student, an observer would initially guess. Zilch was known for certain of the woman minus her secretly witnessed alleyway mugging and her stunt of retaliation.

For over two years, the city slid by free of a real Criminal Mastermind's reigning. In that duration of twenty-six months, Slade took to an abandoned bunker in Holbrook, Arizona where he thought through his motives furtively. Balancing his options proved an obstacle, as the last batter of accounts he'd given a try at world domination he'd always failed miserably in the end, those damned Titans winning ultimately, no matter how astute, precise, or circumspect his tactics were.

In the course of his lengthy hiding, he'd contemplated beginning anew by venturing out to Gotham City and playing mindgames with the Batman, but he instead decided to leave the Joker to his fun.

Slade had his own toys and his own city.

And so arrived the time for Jump to welcome back the masculine, red-blooded, testosterone-flooded, ex-corpsed creature of six feet and three inches. Mid-June that year, the thirty-nine-year-old re-settled into his previous abode: the warehouse on Pier 41. He got the electricity on, the dusty clutter cleared out of his way and those gears spinning without so much as a creak. He could hop to work and further plotting in the areas that hadn't caved in on the night Robin resigned from his apprenticeship. There was roughly a football field's worth of space leftover from the place's self-destruction five years ago.

His old pleasure for full-blown corruption of the Planet Earth had dwindled, but his interests in having Jump City's heart lived on to date. His next goal was to acquire a new apprentice, ideally one of superpowers, as they were exceedingly prone to be successful. He would train them to absolute perfection, and he'd have to be patient with them. He'd learned his lesson where rushing was concerned. Rushing was the reason his plans didn't go far with his last two apprentices.

There were set regulations now. This apprentice couldn't have encountered the Titans personally, which also meant relations with them were out of the question. His agenda would function differently this time around as well. Years earlier, he'd managed to force Dick Grayson and Tara Markov to participate in his heinous plots, so this time, he'd lay the lady or gentleman's choices in their hands solely. If and when they wanted to retire from his duties, he'd grant them their space and expel himself from their life indefinitely.

His hunt for an apprentice had begun almost immediately. He'd taken the stalker's approach, the approach he'd always excelled at phenomenally. Sporting a black trenchcoat with black slacks and a ski mask with a slit for the left eye only, (his right eye useless thanks to a past brawl) he loitered the streets upon the sun's descent each day and he'd conspire within the dark and stuffy walls of his warehouse during the day.

For nearly three boring weeks, he repeated his actions as a drifter, daring to stoop low a night or two and treat himself to a few shots of whiskey in the seediest bars of Jump. From an early age, the man had sworn to himself that he'd scarcely drink, so he kept his night's out for boozing down to a harsh limit. How else would the megalomaniac maintain his vigor and sobriety?

Slade was born a complicated, depressed, dramatically arrogant and controlling man. His own strict and remarkably diabolical father molded those traits into him in the seventeen years Slade lived under his neglect in his home. Slade vacated to live in solitude elsewhere with ambitious ideas of his own once he turned eighteen, and went on to spend years coaching his body, straining to improve his intellect and physique alike, all the while isolating himself from the community so he could drown in a routine of misconduct, greed and madness. He was contently alone, making a living by putting his talent for looting to use, and he'd done what he had to in outside countries so there would be a minuscule chance of his whereabouts going uncovered while he was in the states.

Here and there, the thought of living like a normal man would creep up into his mind, if not for a millisecond. Working an office job and falling in love sounded more rational than what he was comfortable with, and the thought of bearing a son had appealed to him vastly.

Such inane, albeit technically ordinary mulls were lingering about the confines of Slade's nefarious head one night when nearby Tinele Street's alleyway, he witnessed a mugger performing one of his surely usual acts on a pretty brunette girl of perhaps twenty. The thief snatched her wallet before bolting off deeper into the alley. Slade read the victim's expression, and then hastily strode in the other direction towards the alley's second opening.

On an ironic impulse, Slade had this intense itch to play the hero for once and take down the thieving bastard and give the wallet back to its rightful owner, but suddenly, before he could act himself, a glaring red light streamed from a distance and slammed into the mugger, pushing him fast forward and most likely leaving him with hell of a doozy. The swift ball of light went recognized on Slade's behalf, for he'd been struck with several in the past himself by the Boy Wonder's lover. They really packed a punch, whatever the hell they were.

A proud smirk rife with mirth was painted behind Slade's ski mask from where he stood blending into a dim corner thirty feet away while the lain mugger begged for mercy. His mirth intensified when the girl jogged up and snatched her fallen wallet, her hazel eyes like daggers on him as she sassily told him to cope solo. Her strut from the scene iced the cake.

Whoever she was, she was no angel, thereby an eligible candidate in his book. While her strength and acrobatics were to be trialed additionally, her superpowers and absence of a big, annoying conscience pleased the villain. Anyone would have probably snubbed their attacker, sure, but something inhabited that young woman which Slade wouldn't forget not that night nor the next.

He had to confront her.

**x**

Slade, the professional hacker he was, managed to bring up the occupants' names of Orlep Apartments' Room 34 on his high-tech computing system. They were listed as Bristol and Nina Warndhose, sisters who'd just moved in the day prior. Which woman had he seen knock down that mugger? Unfortunately, photographs of the women were not displayed, but only some of their personal information.

There was a number of easy solutions to figure out the name of the girl he was after, but the easiest among them all was to visit the popular site of Facebook and enter either sister's name in to see if they were users. He began with Bristol. Sure enough, she did have a page, and it was private, but he saw all he needed to. The profile picture was of an attractive young blue-eyed woman with long, straight blonde hair. It was like Terra's was, but slightly thicker. Chances were, she was super-powered, too, being the blood sister of Nina, so he'd keep a stalking eye on them both. Although he now knew it was Nina he'd seen, he typed her name in anyway, and her page was public. This was convenient because he could read into who she was effortlessly. Not that hacking was a challenge for him, but this would save him hours.

Nina's hair was black and just as long but wavier than her sister's in her profile picture. She hadn't been logged on to the site for four days, and her last message went to her sister, telling her that she'd just flicked a booger into Bristol's shampoo. A mocking smiley face was at the end of this post. Slade quirked a brow at the immature statement.

She was 'friended' to just family members and a small handful of other people. In some of the pictures she posted of herself she had a fair amount of cleavage out, and in other snapshots she was smoking cigarettes or sipping from bottles of vodka. She spoke of her favorite video games and makeup brands. Her relationship status was single, not that this bit of bio mattered or interested the Mastermind any. He noted she hadn't mentioned a place of employment anywhere, which could have meant she was out of a job.

As he scrolled through more and more of what she shared of her life, Slade was getting a strong impression that this girl was a slacker, and if she was to work for him, he absolutely could not have such habits of her. No, he'd be nipping any laziness she possessed straight in the bud.

He closed down the site after over an hour of browsing through Nina's shameless postings. The girl had a sailor's mouth on her, and that was fine with him, just as long as she didn't ever mouth off to him directly.

She still occupied his mind while he dressed in his dark disguise for his nightly stroll around the city. Her gift of harboring superpowers intrigued him just as Terra's earthly telekinesis did some years ago. He hoped this one's cooperation would last. He had a good chance if the Titans hadn't gotten to her yet.

He'd have to hurry.

**x**

Nina dumped the contents of her suitcases onto her room's floor. She'd selected a near empty bedroom that was slightly larger than the one Bristol picked. There was a single window on the wall opposite the doorway, the closet was adjacent to the window and the bed was against the upper right corner of the room. A dresser with five drawers was against the wall on the left. The wallpaper was beige with no design, but Nina would fix that when she'd get ahold of a sharpie and was in an artistic mood.

She sloppily hung her shirts, dresses, skirts, jackets and coats up in her closet and tossed her four pairs of shoes in, then stuffed her pants, undergarments, socks, and shorts into several of her drawers, not bothering to fold them neatly as Bristol was very liking doing with her own belongings next door.

Her makeup bag was put in a drawer with her few cartons of cigarettes and bags of Jolly Ranchers. She rolled out and tacked down what celebrity and band posters she'd brought onto the walls. Once her sheets, comforter and pillow was piled on the middle of her bed, she frowned at the room's leftover spacious gap.

"Dammit, Bris, I need a vanity!" Nina hollered, sprawling out on her mattress.

"Do you have any money?" Bristol asked. "Because I don't, not for that." She tapped into her OCD and organized her clothing by hanging the lights on the right and the darks on the left. "Mom and Dad's money should last us for a few weeks, but in that time we both _have_ to get employed."

"Right…" Nina sighed. She was anxious to venture back into the city after her run-in with that mugger. She sure knew how to defend herself, but the possibility of coming into contact with another lowlife still unnerved her.

"We're going to drive around tomorrow afternoon to see who's hiring if the morning newspaper's job ads don't seem fulfilling."

Nina rolled her eyes. Being a grownup wasn't as fun as she initially thought it would be.

**x**

_July 3rd (Dusk)_

With a plan formulated, Slade went about executing it in one of the most derelict parts of Jump. He had his left eye on a pack of homeless men circled around a junkyard fire pit. He withdrew the bundle of hundreds from his trenchcoat's inner pocket, then paced forth to stop three yards before the group. He cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"Pardon me, but I have a favor to ask of you fellows," he announced confidently, raising his money so his audience could see it. He had his loaded pistol and his well above average strength to attack with if they made a move for the money then and there. They would only earn the five hundred to split amongst themselves if they performed what he needed of them. "You all shall receive this—half a grand—just for a mere duty requiring little effort. You appear the ideal type for what I have in mind."

A few of the vagrants were wide-eyed and looked interested in the offer, but a couple of the others were visibly incredulous.

"Yeah, really?" said a doubtful man with a mangy graying beard, a holey vest and longjohns for clothing and a scarred cheek. "And just what is it ye want of us?"

"Follow me, all of you. I'll explain on the way," Slade directed.

After some weak consideration, the men agreed and got to their feet. With not much better to do, they trailed behind Slade who led them out of the junkyard and onto sidewalks that stretched onto streets of higher status and security where they didn't fit in.

**x**

Once Bristol Warndhose was out of the apartment for fifteen minutes, Slade re-looked up his hacked information on Orlep's Residence 34 and dialed the landline phone number. He'd been watching the apartment for a portion of the evening, so the moment the elder blonde sister exited with her purse, the brunette not accompanying her, Slade had let a cautionary fifteen minutes pass before calling the address. To his fortune, a girl answered who was presumably Nina Warndhose.

"Um, hi, who is this?" she asked politely, albeit informally.

"This is a ransom notice," Slade said curtly, cutting straight to the chase. "Bristol Warndhose has been abducted and is presently being held hostage in the abandoned daycare center on Perl Lane. The address is 648. Bring fifty." He wouldn't actually confiscate her money, but he had to present an incentive for her attendance.

A nervous snicker plunged into his ear from the other end of the line. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Nina spat. He'd heard the tension in her voice, clear as day, and it was positively delicious. "Well, it isn't funny."

"And I don't mean any funny business. Be there by ten tonight," he said solemnly, hanging up to leave her to her own devices.

He stayed partly hidden by an alcove further down the hall from her apartment, and he watched her scurry out less than a minute later. She fled off in the other direction, towards the elevator, wearing pajama pants and a white tank top. Slade guessed she was lazed out on the sofa reading or watching the television just before he called. Needless to say, he wasn't sorry to interrupt.

**x**

Black hair whipping madly from her sprint, Nina only slowed her dash to climb into a taxi and pant her destination to the driver. The cabby furrowed his brows at her frenzied behavior, but headed to where she asked, arriving in seven minutes. Her hands shook as she counted out the due amount and shoved the bills into his hands. She tremblingly fled as fast as her legs could carry her weight, and she stopped and caught her breath outside the abandoned daycare center. Many of the building's windows were shattered, and graffiti was sprayed on the sides. There were no lights on from the inside as far as she could tell. She'd be surrounded by utter darkness upon going in, and the thought of that combined with her sister's condition disturbed her nearly enough to induce vomiting.

"You have to do this," she breathed silently, the measly and unusually low amount of ransom money tucked into her still shaking grip. Exhaling, she knocked on the door to see if the kidnapper would answer that way. She'd exchange the money for Bristol...But nobody opened after a minute, nor two. She knocked again, louder, stood motionless for half a minute, then tried the knob, to see that it wasn't locked. Mumbling curses under her breath, she forced herself into the very dimly lit entryway. "I'm here!" she called out in worry and anger. "I've got the fifty, too, so hand me my fucking sister and leave us be!"

A small group of manly sniggers echoed from a long distance ahead, somewhere in the darkness. On the verge of urinating her pants, she stepped forward, the floorboards creaking beneath her one-hundred and thirty pounds. Suddenly remembering she was super-powered, she lit up her right hand and held it high in the air. The mocking laughter stopped right then. Oh good, they were mere mortals, weren't they?

"The hell's she doin' with her hand?" Nina heard a man mutter.

"I dunno, but we're gettin' paid too big to chicken out now," another man said.

"Bristol?!" Nina hollered, tearing up with frustration. "Can you hear me?!"

"GO!" one of the men hissed, and in the course of a few seconds, a band of six severely disheveled men stormed into her space of red light. Each hesitated to make a move on her; she was obviously alien, but minding the five-hundred dollars they'd earn and using that as their motivation, they lunged at her.

Nina howled as the pack pinned her to the old, dusty floor, their combined body odors stinging her nostrils. These were derelict criminals, Nina surmised, as she thrashed and shrieked at the top of her lungs. She was so overwhelmed with horror that she couldn't muster the drive to defend herself like she could with that single mugger.

"What're we supposed to be doin' to her again?" asked a grimy man with a ripped fedora and cataracted eyes.

"He said to do as we wish," one replied with a shrug, his equally grimy hand roaming her thigh.

"Must be for a hit or somethin'," another muttered, his gaze on the struggling young woman perverse and crazed. "Jim, we oughta have a little fun with her before we slit her throat. Would ya do the honor of stripping her of these pants?"

Nina gasped her hardest yet at the sick request. Rage flooded in quickly and vengefully, and in an instant she found the strength and courage to fight. Just as Jim took hold of her pants' waistband and began to peel them down, her eyes and hands burned red, and all half a dozen hobos were gifted with a scorching blast, throwing them backwards by at least twenty feet each. Three crashed into a wall, to plop to the floor in a smoking ball, and three others landed with hard, painful thuds, smoke billowing off their bodies as well.

Huffing like a deranged pitbull, Nina readjusted her yanked-at pants and charged at the most conscious assailant. She took him by his worn shirt's collar and snapped, "Tell me where the hell my sister is!"

Out of it as he was, he managed to shake his head and slur, "Yer all! The only one, I swear to God!"

"Liar!" she shouted accusingly, threatening him with the glow of her eyes. "If you don't tell me,-"

"Honest to God, ma'am! We-we were sent to attack ya by some strange fella dressed in all black, ski mask and everythin'! He offered us half a grand just to take ya on! We dunno anythin' 'bout another girl!"

Nina let go of him and straightened her posture, glaring at him suspiciously. "Did this shithead explain why he's doing this to me?"

The derelict shook his head. "Nuh-uh! Didn't explain nothing!"

"What the fuck?!" she groaned, stunned and terribly confused. She glared over each of the men one final time before hastily exiting the building, to sprint home.

Slade was across the street from the ordeal, now crossing the road and entering where she'd just left. She'd passed his unspoken of test, and so had they, lying in agony and their bloodshed. As promised, he indifferently placed the bundle of hundreds on the floor, out of their easy reach.

"I'd put that towards your hospital bills," Slade suggested casually. He then turned and sauntered out, pleased with his apprentice-to-be.


End file.
